The Geneva-based World Health Organisation acknowledged this week that the novel coronavirus can spread through tiny droplets floating in the air.
CHICAGO - The coronavirus pandemic has exposed a clash among medical experts over disease transmission that stretches back nearly a century - to the very origins of germ theory.
“WHO’s slow motion on this issue is unfortunately slowing the control of the pandemic,” said Jose Jimenez, a University of Colorado chemist who signed the public letter urging the agency to change its guidance. Such proof could involve studies in which laboratory animals become sickened by exposure to the virus in the air, or studies showing viable virus particles in air samples - a level of proof not required for other modes of transmission such as contact with contaminated surfaces, the letter’s signatories said.
“It would affect our entire way of life. And that’s why it’s a very important question,” said Dr. John Conly, a University of Calgary infectious disease expert who is part of the WHO’s group of experts advising on coronavirus guidelines.“In my mind, I want to see evidence in those fine mists,” Conly said.The WHO’s latest guidance document, released on Thursday, called for more research on coronavirus aerosol transmission, which it said “has not been demonstrated.
“Would we not be seeing, like, literally billions of cases globally? That’s not the case,” Conly said.
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